Animal Crossing: Switch Seasons
Animal Crossing: Switch Seasons (動物林トロピカルシーズン, Dōbutsu no Mori: Suitchi Shīzun, "Animal Forest: Switch Seasons"'in Japan) is an upcoming life-simulation game belonging to the ''Animal Crossing franchise, released for the Nintendo Switch, being the very first installment in the series that's introduced in this console. '''Switch Seasons is also the fifth main installment released worldwide and the eighth installment overall, excluding spin-offs. Features New *Players can finally choose their age, if they are young they will retain their appearance from Animal Crossing: Wild World and City Folk. If they are grown up, they take their appearance of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Not only this affects their appearance, but also their relationship with villagers. *5 New villager species, being those Bats, Swans, Snakes, Sharks and Seals. Also a new Villager type appears, being the "Nerdy" type, which its unisex. *More interactions with the Villagers, especially when visiting their houses. *The whole town is fully playable in a 360° degree sense. Players can rotate to all the directions giving the game a global spaceview similar to how the camera worked inside the houses in New Leaf and Happy Home Designer. Also when setting public projects, the player can rotate them thanks to the 360° degree camera. *Players can check some areas they a villager to move in them, avoiding roadblocks or killing tree orchards. *When travelling to another Town, the icons of the foreign players will also be shown in the map so they won't get lost. *The city of City Folk returns with a completely improved mechanic. Here villagers all around the world can meet and interact each other. *When the Mayor or another player's birthday comes in, Isabelle comes to greet the player along with his favorite villagers. *A toolbox used to save tools like the net and fishing rod, allowing more space to save in the pockets. *Ceiling furnitures, curtains, rugs and custom windows from Happy Home Designer return. Saharah the Camel sells rugs and curtains. *When you have fished or caught a creature you have already donated to the Museum, a sign will mark it as evidence of their donation. *Catch up to 60 new Birds and Reptiles/Amphibians in a similar way to Bugs and Fishes. Additionally you can also catch up to 80 different Bugs and Fishes and 40 Marine Species. *Much more jobs. You can not only work for Tom Nook (optionally), but also as a Happy Home Designer, a barista in the Roost and much more other jobs, such as harvesting with Joan, sewing clothes with the Able Sisters or the hairstyle with Harriet. More information soon. *Celeste has a new function and that’s taking photos of planets. *A Blacksmith and a minigame that revolves on mines are introduced. *New fruits like grapes and strawberries who grow on vines and bushes. *New environments such as the mountain or desert from Happy Home Designer appear in the game and are unlocked after clearing some tasks. Returning *Every villager present and those ones that were removed in further installments from Animal Crossing on the Game Cube finally return. *Town limit is up to 15 villagers like how it was in the Game Cube versions. However the number can be expanded with Amiibo Cards, up to 17 villagers. *Blathers' explanations to the donations you give to him are back. You can disable those explanations however, but you can also hear them anytime. *Various minigames, such as the Desert Island Escape, Puzzle League and the Goldsmith Mines appear. *The unique islander villagers from the Game Cube returns. *Farley and Serena, two characters that were removed in New Leaf return. *Various Town aesthetics and miscellaneous things like the Balls from the GameCube version and the bottled messages from Wild World return. Gameplay Animal Crossing: Switch Seasons maintains the same gameplay as its main predecessors, most notably New Leaf and the GameCube game. The player takes control of a human that's moving into a new town full of colorful and sentient anthropomorphic animals, interacting each other and making new friends. Upon arriving to the new town, the player is mistaken by said animals as their new Mayor who was aboard in the same train and thus, the player has to assume the profession of being a Mayor, ruling the town. Switch Seasons doesn't have a goal in purpose other than completing the small story mode the game has built already and its up to the player if they want to progress on it or not, and can do many variations to enhance gameplay such as catching or fishing creatures, expanding the town by building facilities and Public Project Works, decorating their houses or even just interacting with the new villagers. Like past Animal Crossing games, the player can alter their appearance basing on the questions Rover the cat asks to you, and the player can also adjust their skin tone and eye color to its liking. Players can also choose their age, which its a new feature that not only affects the appearance, but also the relationships with villagers. These are the possible answers you can give to Rover after he asks how old are you. *I'm under 12 years old *I'm over 13 years old. If the player is under 12 years old, he will be considered as a child and have the appearance of one, much like in Animal Crossing: Wild World and City Folk, and the relationships with villagers will be nicer. If the player is over 13 years old, he will then be considered as a teen and have the appearance of one, similar to Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and the relationships with villagers will be more mature and behave like that, sometimes being rude towards the player. Some Easter Eggs in the game are only available to this age. The player can age up too, according to how much time they spend in the game, and the conversations with villagers start maturing. ACTP Child.png| The default appearance of a Child Player. ACTP Teen.png| The default appearance of a Teen Player. ACTP Faces.jpg| The many possible faces that the player can get. ACSS Eye, Skin, Hair.jpg|The many hair styles, colors, skin tones and eye colors the player can pick Story Switch Seasons is the very first Animal Crossing installment to include a Story Mode in, though the player can opt to progress on it or not as the story relies on the time and how well the Mayor is doing in the Town. Serena is a beautiful goddess. However, she appears to be in despair because she lost her beloved jewels. What could these be...? Why are these so important...? And why is she lamenting to herself...? So many questions unveiled... Town This is the Player's main destiny, where he arrives in and is mistaken as the new Mayor of the Town. Players can choose where they want to build their houses and live there, and therefore, being the Mayor lets him customize the whole town adjusting to their likings. A new feature of the town was added, functioning similar to Happy Home Designer, being those the ability to unlock ecosystems. A new feature applying not only to the town but every place in Switch Seasons lets the player finally rotate the camera and his surroundings to a 360° degree. As such, houses and other projects can be finally rotated when installing them. The Town will always have a Town Hall, a Bulletin Board and a Tree planter in the center of the Town, having a similar layout to the Plaza of the shut down online interaction for the Wii U: Animal Crossing Plaza. Public projects can be built around the town, by talking to Isabelle in the Town Hall when sitting on your Mayor Chair, but some can only be unlocked when a villager requests them. Many natural elements from the original Animal Crossing return, like the huge bushes, lily pads and docks in the river, and the wishing well. The limit of residents a town can hold has been upgraded to 15, like in the original Animal Crossing, but two more can move to the town by talking to him/her in the campground, if they're either in a tent, igloo or van. If the town has already 17 villagers residing, and the player invites a villager to move in, the player must need to pick one so he/she can move away, with the new villager replacing him, much like in New Leaf's Welcome amiibo ''update. Villagers also can move in the town if the player gets a perfect score at designing their house. Furthermore, the player now has the ability to choose a place and decide where should the new resident move in. The Town is divided in many places, those being the '''Ecosystems', the Plaza, the Campground and while technically not part of the village, are still present in the game, being the City and Island. Ecosystems As aforementioned, Switch Seasons is the second game to introduce many different ecosystems and the first game in where the player can fully wander around those, however those are unlocked after going through some criteria methods. In the game Ecosystems are kind of unique areas that can be accessed through different paths leading to them, similar to the Campground in New Leaf. These paths appear randomly depending on the town's layout. Ecosystems are special environmental places in the town in where exclusive and unique flora and fauna gather and appear around these places. Those ecosystems affect the appearance and organization of the town, as well as the building styles, kind of fishes, bugs, birds and reptiles that appear around, even the villager species will be randomly affected. The main town itself also serves as an unique ecosystem. While at first the player can originally live at the Urban Ecosystem, he can talk to Tom Nook and pay him a reasonable price to move their house into another ecosystem of their liking. There are in total 7 different types of ecosystems, and those are: *' ' Urban ecosystems are the default ecosystem available at the start, and the one that takes the most part of the town. The Plaza and various shops will mainly be placed at the Urban Ecosystem an it will also be the part where most houses will be set in. The Player will live here at first. Most common bugs, fishes and birds can be found here. *' ' As implied, takes place in the Beach of the Town, already unlocked at the beginning of the game. After residing in the Town and being a Mayor for 3 days. Tortimer will first appear and tell you that you can finally go to visit him in his Island, and to do this, Kapp'n will bring you to the Island. The Tropical Ecosystem always takes place in the southern part of the town. This is also pretty much the only place in the town that you can fish ocean fishes, however. The Tropical Ecosystem also connects various islets around via bridges that can be unlocked later. *' ' A China-themed ecosystem, filled of Bamboos and many ponds where many different kinds of fishes inhabit. Layout is pretty similar to the one generated in past Animal Crossing games, however. The Bamboo Ecosystem will usually appear at the Northern part of the village. Various rare birds like the Peacock or Quetzal may be found here. *' ' As implied, takes place in a desert. There are no trees, but rather cacti and many related plants around. Valuable bugs and reptiles like the Scorpion or Skink can be found here. Also this biome has a higher chance of having buried fossils and gyroids in. *' ' Usually located at the northern part of the Town. While there's pretty much nothing interesting in the slope other than a river that can be located in either the west or east, there's a path that serves as the entrance of the mountain and stops in an esplanade where villagers can put their houses in. However the path still continues through the peak of the mountain where usually cold temperatures whip around even if the weather is sunny, due to its immense altitude. Villagers apt to the cold and altitudes may live at the peak. A waterfall also runs in a part of the mountain in where the player can fish some species. *' ' This swamp is located at either the western or eastern path of the town, usually near the Campground. The swamp is somewhat extense and part of it takes place in a mangrove where colorful birds inhabit along with another huge waterfall falls into a spring where fishes can be caught. On the south of the Swamp a small part of the ocean is also placed. Reptilians and amphibians love to inhabit in the swamp and they tend to be really common here. *' ' Also called the Mines, that doesn't really classify as an ecosystem other than the variety of species living there, like bats since Villagers won't live here. A new character will manage the mines and is also a Goldsmith that has a special function regarding to the Gems and will let you play a small minigame. The Cavern is usually located behind the Waterfall, which at first is locked but as the player progresses, a path will be revealed and the player can visit the Mines. Urban_Ecosystem_ACSS.jpg|Screenshot of the Urban Ecosystem Tropical Ecosystem ACSS.jpg|The player and Cole the Rabbit in the Tropical Ecosystem Bamboo Ecosystem ACSS.jpg|The player's house in the Bamboo Ecosystem Desert Ecosystem ACSS.jpg|The Player's House in the Desert Ecosystem Mountain Ecosystem ACSS.jpg|Player visiting Julian the Unicorn in the Mountain Ecosystem Swamp Ecosystem ACSS.jpg|Two female Players visiting another's house in the Swamp Ecosystem Main Street The Main Street is one of the town's major facilities. The Main Street is usually accessed to the northern part of the town, next to the Station. Various important and useful buldings will be set here, to give the player an easy access. The Re-Tail was also moved to the Main Street as well, allowing more space in the Town. List of Buildings in the Main Street Starter= |-| Unlockable= City The City is a returning feature from Animal Crossing: City Folk, but vastly improved and revamped its mechanic, from going to a simple new area to a place where players and villagers all over the world gather around and talk each other via Wi-Fi Connection. The City can be accessed from interacting the Bus Stop sign next to the Station and it will be asked if they want to take a trip to the City. Here the City shares a nearly similar function to the defunct program Animal Crossing Plaza released for the Wii U. Here, the players can interact with others, and "talking" to one of them will result in them showing a message, their Dream Address and Friend Code. Players can also give items to others, share Design Patterns or receive some. However if the Player is not conencted to the internet, the City instead will be shown having generic villagers saying random things, but a bonus point of that is that continuously talking with a specific villager increases the chance of moving in the Player's Town. An auction similar to the one in City Folk is also present here, where players can sell or buy items from other players by talking to a Gyroid. Island The island was a feature present in both GameCube and Nintendo 3DS installments. However this version of the Island mixes both good parts of their respective versions. The layout of the island consists in a wide island having three buildings. The first one is basically the same shack as the one found in New Leaf, where Kapp'n's entire family resides. The second building is property of the player and its a bungalow, though its mostly used as a decoration tool or storage space. When there are more than one player residing in the town, the Bungalow will be empty and can stash the items the player puts in. the player, however, cannot save at the bungalow. Lastly, the third building belongs to a villager living there, and unlike the Game Cube, there are no restrictions to any kind of villager. This villager, denominated Islander will live in the island and can be interacted much like a normal one. The islander can also participate at Tortimer's Tours if that's the player's choice. The rest of the island will have exclusive fruits and palmtrees the player can pick them up and take them to their town. Summer permanently stays in the island, allowing the player catch the most valuable species. If another player is visiting the town, the player can choose to take a trip to Tortimer's Island and interact and participate on the Tours there. Some villagers around the world can also be found in the island, by requesting a form from Grams to join the Tortimer's Club. The player can befriend those others too, but also can block them as well. Tortimer_Island_ACSS.jpg|Several players in the island ACSS_Island.jpg|Player and O'Hare in the island Island_Shack_ACSS.jpg|Inside the Shack Campground Campground was an exclusive feature to the New Leaf: Welcome amiibo update, in where a dog called Harvey just sits there providing exclusive furniture that cannot be found or obtained by any other means, and you can access there by a path that is located in either the western or eastern part of your town. The Campground feature pretty much remains as the same, though several Pocket Camp functions also appear. There's also a van with a Special character that doesn't reside in your Town, as you can visit the character's van and order the furniture you like the most with some MEOW coupons. MEOW Coupons are the other currency and is only used in the Campground, replacing Bells. To earn MEOW Coupons you must do the daily or weekly tasks the game gives to you, and the coupons can also be exchanged for Bells. If you have an Animal Crossing amiibo Card that belongs to a Villager, you can put it in and a van will arrive at the Campground, you can go see the villager inside the van and invite him/her to move in your town. If your Town has already reached the limit of Villagers it can hold, you can try and kick a villager you despise in exchange for the new one. Camping Villagers also appear in the Campground rather than as a Public Work Project, unlike in New Leaf. Here if your Town hasn't reched the villager limit yet, a random villager may come at the Campground, place a tent and stay for one day. The player, however, can ask and invite the Villager to move in their Town. The Villager may agree or disagree, is just indecisive and would rather play a minigame in that if you win, they'll move in. The Campground, however, has a new function. Once you have unlocked at least an ecosystem that's not the Urban or Tropical ones, and the player has the option to buy a van that the OK Motors birds will offer. The van is pretty much customizable like the houses and can be painted on. Once the player has gotten a van, he's pretty much ready to go camping. The player has to talk Giovanni, the shortest bird and tell him you want to go camping, in where he'll let you choose which ecosystems do you want to camp in. Players can either choose to camp along with other friends or even with just his own villagers. More Information soon Characters These little adorable and friendly animals are the main characters of the game and will gladly help you on any question you have! Each character has a different and useful purpose and you may need to look after them! Some characters need to be unlocked by meeting certain criteria and others simply just pop around the town, however. Starter= |-| Unlockable= |-| Wanderer= Villagers Villagers are an important part of the game, being the residents of your town, and they come in many colors and species. The player can interact and maintain conversations with them. At first villagers may seem a little uninterested or will tend to give you random tips to get used to the town, but as you keep talking to them, they'll open more to you, befriending you, and once you've befriended them enough, they may end up giving you a picture of themselves! A town can have a maximum of 17 Villagers, which can move in the town through various meanings: randomly, inviting them to live in their towns when they're in other Towns or in the Campground, via amiibo cards, talking to them in the City or having a perfect score by designing their house. Switch Seasons Introduces a new Villager type, being the Nerdy Villager, an unisex type. Nerdy villagers are utterly shy, even more than the Normal ones and will hardly get outside of their homes, with the sole excuse of studying inside. If they even manage to get outside is to look up for a better place to concentrate and study. If the player keeps talking to them, they will start opening not only to the player, but also for the rest of the town. Typically, Nerdy Villagers wear glasses, such as Darwin the Duck and Velma the Goat, being two examples of Nerdy Villagers. Collectibles Switch Seasons introduces 9 new collectible forms, compared to the 5 ones New Leaf had. Each collectible has their own room in the Museum being displayed along with a small note. There are in total 80 different Bugs and Fishes and 40 Marine Species, Birds and Reptilians that can be caught. Additionally the player can also dig Fossils up and give them to Blathers so he can identify and donate them. Crazy Redd sells Art Masterpieces too. Due to the game's new mechanic of Ecosystems, a wider variety of collectables can be obtained in them. Bugs Bugs are one of the main collectables of the game, being present since the first Animal Crossing game and are usually caught with a net. There are many ways to catch the bugs as they are spread in a different manner. Following there's a colored table indicating the appearance of the bugs. * indicate that bugs tend to roam and fly freely around the town, as its the case with the Butterflies and Dragonflies. * mean that bugs are found in the floor jumping around like the Grasshoppers and Crickets. Bugs found in ponds such as the pondskater and diving beetle also apply there. * show that bugs love flowers or bushes and can be found resting in them, like the Ladybug or Snail. This also classifies to bugs found on tree stumps and snowballs. * indicate bugs that are found clinging to a tree, but if the player approaches too much to them or fails to catch them, the bug in the tree will flee away and thus is lost, such the case of many Beetles and Cicadas. Spiders and Bagworms can be found by shaking up the trees, randomly coming out. * show that Centipedes and Pill bugs can pop out of rocks if they were hit by a shovel. Also show that bugs like the Mole Cricket and Earthworm are hidden underground, and unlike past games, dirt will be seen sprouting off the ground, and trying to dig up the patch will reveal the bug, and bugs that go after trash or rotting fruits/turnips, or on top of your villagers' heads. *There are actually many bugs that can damage the player, those indicated by the , being the Bees, Wasps, Scorpions and Tarantulas. Bees can be found after shaking a tree, where a beehive will fall and a swarm will follow the player attemting to sting them up, though the player can escape or catch them. If the player fails to catch the bees, they will sting up their face, which can be cured by drinking medicine or saving the game. Wasps behave similarly though beehives won't fall. Scorpions and Tarantulas can be found roaming in the ground, and if the player makes a false movement, the bug will bite the player, making them pass out and reawaken in front of their house. Fishes Fishes are the second main collectables of the game, appearing since the very first Animal Crossing game. As implied, to get fishes, the player must get a fishing rod and start fishing in the river or sea and wait until the fish chomps the bait, where the player can reel the line automatically by having a good timing and pressing the button A. If the player, however, has a bad timing, the fish will then flee away and will be lost. There are 5 types of fishes: *River Fishes are marked with a . *Ocean Fishes are shown with a . Exclusive island fishes are marked by an asterisk (*) *Pond Fishes are shown with a . Oasis ponds also fall in this category. *Fishes with a dorsal fin are shown with a . Those "fishes" are extremely rare and hard to capture. They tend to flee fast. Marine Species A returning feature from New Leaf was the ability to dive in the seas of your Town or the Island, only if you have a diver suit on. Players can swim normally in the surfacebut once they see a circular shadow , the player must press the A button to dive and follow the creature to grab it. However, the chased creature will flee at a quick speed, while other unfortunate ones struggle by fleeing slowly. If the player reaches and touches the creature, it will be instantly caught and held. Sometimes if a creature flees quickly or isn't caught, it will vanish from the player's sight and no longer be caught. There are in total 40 Marine Species, upgrading from New Leaf. Reptiles Reptiles are one of the new creatures introduced in Switch Seasons. ''Reptiles inhabit in all ecosystems, but they mostly gather around the Swamp Ecosystem or the Island. Even though they aren't technically ones, amphibians such as Frogs, toads and Axolotls also fall in the reptilian category in this game. Birds Birds are also another new group introduced in the game. Birds behave similar to the bugs, flying around though some will land on trees or the ground. Birds usually fly high in the air so its impossible to catch one, and bait is instead used. The player has to buy an alpist bag that comes with infinite alpist, has to sprinkle some that can be either in the ground, bushes, flowers or trees. Once the player returns, they're now ready to catch the bird with their net, but if they fail so, the bird will fly away and will be lost. Sometimes if the player sprinkles alpist and leaves for so long, the alpist will be gone eaten by the birds. Several grand birds like the peacock were scaled down to the size of a canary. Fossils Fossils have been a thing ever since the beginning of the ''Animal Crossing series. Fosils are usually found buried in the town, having a star shaped mark to indicate where are they buried. The player needs to dig in that shape and an unidentified fossil will be revealed. The unidentified fossil worths nothing, so it must be taken to Blathers so he can identify it. The Museum has also a Fossil exhibition, so its up to the players if they want to donate it or not. Fossils, once identified, can also be displayed like furniture or even taken to Cyrus so he can make it a miniature version if you bring the whole fossil parts. Fossils have a chance of appearing more in the Desert Ecosystem as well. Art Masterpieces Another collectable in the game. Art Masterpieces are obtained mainly by Crazy Redd selling them, though in rare occasions, by Tommy and Timmy Nook or even a villager as well. The Art Masterpieces are based on real life paintings or statues, such as the Mona Lisa from Leonardo Da Vinci or the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo Buonarotti. Crazy Redd sells 4 paintings but 3 of them are forgeries, and bringing them to Blathers will cause him to decline them, demanding for the real ones, even though the forgeries are usually easy to identify. Minerals and Gems Minerals and Gems were originally obtainable in New Leaf ''by breaking a rock with the shovel, but they never showed up as a collectible. In Switch Seasons, the manner of obtaining them is more or less the same, breaking rocks apart with the shovel. Each day a fake rock will be placed around the town, and if the player hits it, it will instantly shatter, revealing a gem inside. These items are extremely valuable, and are worth selling for some good Bells. However, due to the addition of the Mines and Goldsmith Mines, Minerals can now be obtained via this minigame. Gyroids Gyroids are another obtainable item, though they aren't donated to Blathers, but rather to Brewster. If the player befriends Brewster enough, he might end up accepting one Gyroid of yours as long as its not repeated. Gyroids are found buried in the town, much like fossils, except these only appear the next day after a rainy day. Gyroids are usually placed as instrumental furniture, each one having a characteristic and unique sound. Gyroids will be more often found in the Desert as well. Planets Due to the fact that Celeste's Observatory returned with a new mechanic, Planets were added to the game as one more collectable, though this not only has to apply to just planets, it also applies to the satellites and moons, along with other celestial bodies such as the Halley Comet. While the player, obviously doesn't have to save planets, he has instead to take photos of them with a Telescope, serving as another tool and show them to Celeste where each planet will be displayed in a room with their description. If you often go to see Celeste and make more custom constellations, more unique Planets have a higher chance to appear. Planets are best seen in the Mountain Ecosystem. Every time you discover a new planet, it will also start showing up in the Observatory's Telescope as well. The Photos you take off the celestial bodies can also be sent as letters to villagers or other players online. amiibo As implied, ''Switch Seasons supports the amiibo collection, and is one of the few games to support nearly every amiibo so far. amiibos usually unlock stuff like costumes or in-game figures and items, but some special amiibo unlock a villager and its up to the player whether they want the villager to move in the town or not. They are also used to play in the minigames Desert Island Escape, Goldsmith Mines or the Campground. A fourth Animal Crossing amiibo wave was released as well, containing the figures of Saharah, Harriet, Sable, Labelle, Gracie, Pelly, Phyllis and Katie increasing the number from 16 amiibo to 24. Switch Seasons is also compatible with the amiibo cards, used not only to play minigames, but also to make the villager move in the town. Sanrio amiibo cards are still compatible as well. Credits *To 's Animal Crossing: Fresh Air for being a main inspiration of the game. *To for the Store Tables. Category:Animal Crossing (series) Category:Animal Crossing Games Category:Nintendo Switch Games Category:Sapphire Dragon Inc. Category:Life Simulation Games Category:Stubs